New tank wc

[john McKenzie]

Hi all can I ask when you are setting up a new tank and you have seeded the tank ,but with no fish in tank do you still do water changes till the tank is good to add fish ?

[kris2341]

If the tank is seeded, as in has bacteria AND an ammonia source, i generally do not change the water until the day before or day of introducing a fish as the system would have some nitrates to it that I would want to get rid of beforehand.

So i basically do not change water while keeping the biofilter alive BUT i change the water when I am about to dd new fish for the first time.

[john McKenzie]

HI

Ok Kris thxs for the reply, not set up tank yet, in fact not even bought it yet, took a week or two before the wife knew she needed a tank lolol.
so now i have convinced her it was her idea it's all hands on deck trawling the net to see whats best for me.
i have kept fish for many years, but due to a move back in 2008 this is me just getting back into it.
Have had quite a few of those years keeping Discus so it's not something I'm worried about starting.
I have started the process tho, just ordered a Ehiem Pro3 2075 as it was always externals i used and found the ehiems to be very quiet and never let me down.
my minimum size tank will be 4ft, but hope to squeeze in a 5 ft before the wife says "thats to big" lol.
where i live in Aberdeen Scotland there is not much of choice in the way of discus at LFS, but online buying is good, in fact the guy i bought my last fish from back in 2007 is still on the go so might just go with what i know.
not started posting as yet till i get my tank then like me i like to watch new tanks develop so i will start a thread and keep it going along with the progress of my tank.
CAN'T WAIT IT'S LIKE XMAS AS A KID ALL OVER AGAIN LOL

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Glad you are getting back into Discus.

You can try and find a 110 gallon 5' tank. I have one and it is has served me well. It is by Oceanic and very sturdy construction (1/2" glass).

Good luck with your quest.

[john McKenzie]

just an update on above, just ordered my tank from DN Aquatics

5X2X2 ft 109 uk gal or 496 lts round about that, beautiful cabinet and 3 T5 tubes, there is a 6 to 8 week time for build and delivered which is fine as part of my condition for getting a new 5 ft tank was OK AS LONG AS YOU WAIT TILL AFTER XMAS, to say i was glad of the trade to get a 5footer when at best i thought she might agree to a 4footer was a small price to pay :+)
Have one ehiem pro3 2075 being delivered and will order another one before Xmas. (think i would have pushed my luck with a sump as the noise was another trade off)
no hurry to decide on what type of discus i want and to be honest just buying all the gear to get going it great.
probibly go BB when i first get fish as only thing i do know is i'm not buying anything over 4" as i think thats a big part of the fun of watching them grow, so when they have came on a bit i want to put in plants and sub trait, quite like the look of the white sand, but always had gravel in my old tanks so don't know must about the sand, so any ideas guys on whats best for looks and for maintenance ?